Walmark to distribute Bristol supplements in eastern Europe
Walmark, has gained the right to produce and distribute several
brands from American pharma giant Bristol-Myers Squib (BMS)
including supplement products, as its eastern European presence
grows.
Walmark will distribute three over-the-counter offerings: an effervescent calcium product; an effervescent magnesium supplement and Septofort - a cold treatment. Two drugs: Amilorid (for hypertension) and Propafenon (for cardiovascular disease) were also part of the undisclosed deal, which will see Walmark controlling the products in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. Walmark said the move was part of a strategy that aimed to make it one of the three biggest food supplement manufacturers in Europe by 2012, and become market leader by 2017. At the same time it had committed to increase its pharma and OTC business to 10 per cent of turnover in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary as well as Romania. Walmark also announced its intention to be more aggressive in the sports nutrition market and become "number one in this segment in central Europe by 2012." The deal Walmark said its good manufacturing processes (GMPs) as well as its distribution processes had been strictly appraised by BMS before the deal was inked and it had to beat off tough competition from "more prominent international pharmaceutical companies" for the contracts. "To win this selection procedure, we had to meet demanding criteria regarding not only the production quality but also the distribution," said Walmark executive director, Petr Turo. "The transfer of their production to Walmark was preceded by an audit in our production plant in Tinec by the Czech SÚKL (State Institute for Drug Inspection)." Under the terms of the deal, Walmark would not begin producing and distributing the products before six months. Walmark was expanding its facilities to meet its expanded pharma range that included a fluid granulation unit. "So far we have been using only the method of the direct compression in the manufacturing process of tablets. The major contribution of the new technology is a possibility to manufacture tablets which are technologically more demanding", Turo said. Walmark was established in 1990 and has quickly become central and eastern Europe's largest food supplements manufacturer. It has subsidiaries in eight European countries (Slovakia, Romania, Poland, the Ukraine, Hungary, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Latvia) and exports to more than 20 countries.
